Live data from Hacker News

Lithium-free sodium batteries exit the lab and enter US production

newatlas.com

91–100 of 396 posts

Re: Lithium-free sodium batteries exit the lab and enter US production

#91
post #67

I had an early EV with only 80 miles of range, and found it extremely useful for most in town travel and commuting. Now that EVs are pushing ~400 miles range at about 300Wh/kg, assuming sodium is about half that (from what I've seen), you'd still get a respectable 100-200 miles in a car. For me, and I imagine a lot of people, that would be totally acceptable if it means lower cost, and batteries that effectively last…

The problem is that these batteries are much heavier.

Re: Lithium-free sodium batteries exit the lab and enter US production

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hopefully we can continue to lower the power requirements of our every day items and the lower capacity of these batteries will become less of an issue.

Not really sure how much further there is to go. We've already got LED bulbs, heat pumps, and energy-efficient appliances. Washers and dryers still have to spin and agitate. Dishwashers still have to shoot jets of water. Ceiling fans still need to move air. And with the switch to electrification (cars, stoves, dryers, hot water heaters) electricity usage will increase , fortunately, to replace polluting gasoline. So…

I mean on the small scale where the object has a built in battery. On the scale your talking about, large sodium batteries on the grid to store power for renewables makes sense.

Re: Lithium-free sodium batteries exit the lab and enter US production

#93
post #67

I had an early EV with only 80 miles of range, and found it extremely useful for most in town travel and commuting. Now that EVs are pushing ~400 miles range at about 300Wh/kg, assuming sodium is about half that (from what I've seen), you'd still get a respectable 100-200 miles in a car. For me, and I imagine a lot of people, that would be totally acceptable if it means lower cost, and batteries that effectively last…

From the article it claims charge speed 10x that of lithium and 50,000 cycle lifetime. I don’t know about you but a EV that can go 150 miles and charge to 80% again in 2min would be super compelling to me. Solid commuter car but not too annoying on the rare roadtrip. But, I am guessing grid frequency regulation use cases are going to make these too expensive for a car for a long time.

> But, I am guessing grid frequency regulation use cases are going to make these too expensive for a car for a long time.

Not sure I follow here. Can you elaborate?

Are you saying the the demand for sodium batteries for power grid backup is going to be high vs supply such that they're not going to make it into cars anytime soon? Isn't one of the Chinese EV makers starting to use sodium batteries?

Re: Lithium-free sodium batteries exit the lab and enter US production

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This falls in line with a plug in hybrid being an excellent alternative to evs for most people. 30-50 miles of driving around town for work an errands, with an ICE for the occasional longer trip. Almost all driving will be electric without the charge anxiety.

My hesitation with hybrids is that I keep all the associated maintenance costs of an ICE engine. Now I have two power trains and energy systems to maintain instead of just one.

Just buy a toyota hybrid and have 0 worries to 200k miles then.

Re: Lithium-free sodium batteries exit the lab and enter US production

#95
It seems like these could have some great advantages for use in sailboats, both house and propulsion (weight matters a lot less in a bit). The fire safety, rapid recharge (from engine), and higher power than lead-acid are pretty great. What am I missing?

Re: Lithium-free sodium batteries exit the lab and enter US production

#96

> We haven't seen a weight-based energy density figure from Natron itself, but a 2022 article from Chemical & Engineering News put its sodium-ion batteries at 70 Wh/kg, around the very bottom of the sodium-ion energy density scale. That aligns well with the company's stationary-only business plan, as sodium-ion batteries being pursued for potential mobility use have more than double that density. CATL showed a 160 Wh…

Yes, but since the US is becoming extremely protectionist/nationalist with its energy infrastructure, the only relevant bit from this story is that this production is occuring entirely within the US.

Though it is good news that this company can produce much denser batteries in the future!

Re: Lithium-free sodium batteries exit the lab and enter US production

#97
post #50

Hopefully long term, this can help us dismantle unnecessary high voltage transmission lines, and let people trickle store power at 48volts and discharge it at 110 through inverters.

Hi Voltage transmission lines are completely necessary. Running on 48V would require ridiculously large cables over any significant distance. Is there a reason you want to "Dismantle" high voltage transmission lines? They are the greatest invention since sliced bread. edit: Sliced bread was invented in 1928, and the first high voltage transmission line was apparently tested in 1889. Therefore my statement needs revis…

I imagine the idea they were proposing is ~most energy being locally generated, 48v should be fine from solar panels to batteries.

But I can't see that working on denser cities, or factories, or less sunny climates.

Re: Lithium-free sodium batteries exit the lab and enter US production

#98
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article it claims charge speed 10x that of lithium and 50,000 cycle lifetime. I don’t know about you but a EV that can go 150 miles and charge to 80% again in 2min would be super compelling to me. Solid commuter car but not too annoying on the rare roadtrip. But, I am guessing grid frequency regulation use cases are going to make these too expensive for a car for a long time.

I missed the 10x charge speed- that is a killer feature that more than makes up for the reduced range.

I wonder what that will mean for charging infrastructure that suddenly has to deliver 10x power to enable that. Not sure that sort of charging could be as ubiquitously placed as gas stations

Re: Lithium-free sodium batteries exit the lab and enter US production

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article it claims charge speed 10x that of lithium and 50,000 cycle lifetime. I don’t know about you but a EV that can go 150 miles and charge to 80% again in 2min would be super compelling to me. Solid commuter car but not too annoying on the rare roadtrip. But, I am guessing grid frequency regulation use cases are going to make these too expensive for a car for a long time.

> But, I am guessing grid frequency regulation use cases are going to make these too expensive for a car for a long time. Not sure I follow here. Can you elaborate? Are you saying the the demand for sodium batteries for power grid backup is going to be high vs supply such that they're not going to make it into cars anytime soon? Isn't one of the Chinese EV makers starting to use sodium batteries?

Yeah I am thinking grid applications will take up most of the available supply for the next few years. That charge/discharge speed makes it perfect for helping to stabilize the grid, frequency regulation, as well as for replacing peaker plants. Lithium batteries are already being used for these two applications but I think these sodium batteries would be better.
Post reply on HN